::INtERAcTiviTY::

 Steve Johnson wrote how the internet has made our culture smarter and more engaged in popular culture. Johnson lists four things: Interactivity, Information, Learning, and Social Connection. The one that I found to be very interesting and important would be that of interactivity. There are pros and cons thus being the pros: the internet makes one "lean in" and being involved activley in anything your engaging in on the internet, the cons: sensitive information floats around on the internet and ANYONE has access to it also the internet keeps people from being involved in other things. For instance facebook is very interactive with all the games and the activities you can do however very sensitive information is sometimes shared and missinterpreted, however at the same time it keeps people activley involved thus being good for the interactivity but yet still holding some cons to its aspect. Using the internet with good intent but with much caution is the way to engage interactivley.

THE deffinition of..............."Coolness"

"Coolness"

    The word "coolness", what exactly is the deffinition? Everyone has their own deffinition and way of seeing what coolness really is. I personally think that coolness is how a person expresses their individuality. Coolness is not conforming to the social norm because that would just be normal and their is no individual taste. Chuck Klosterman breaks down coolness into a few categories and he says that at a young age being cool is not being uncool. I think youth are trying not to step out of that social bubble because they will feel insecure. Chuck also has his claculated adult coolness which how our culture really does run.... to be exclusive. Adults have that right to be exclusive becasue they are able to do things that non-adults cant.  Chuck Klosterman does a great job of explaining his thoughts and categorizing his coolness.The concept of cool being semi-original and semi-elite makes is another category he describes as well.. People that want to be cool are those who put their individuality out there, however if they express too much individuality then they are depicted as too different and it becomes weird so they have to be able to controll the amount of coolness they message out. All in all being cool is quite they regulating job, one must monitor themselves and make sure they fit in but yet at the same time have their own coolness without being too outrageous and weird in the eyes of our culture.

Moder Films VS. That of " Star Wars!!!!!!"

What are the similarities in "Star wars' and "The Lion King?".........Are there any???


    Star wars was in the time when America was at war and when people needed the lift of good vs. evil and the great defeat over the evil. The cultural need was for people essentially to be uplifted and to give hope. A main character was Luke skywalker. In the movie Luke had a strong mentor at his side to help guide him and give him the focus that he needed to obtain his goals unfortunatley the mentor had passed. This is almost the same as a film that is from todays culture, The Lion King.


      The lion king provides viewers with unity and shows how evil or the bad guys can be defeated and that a community can come together to acheive happiness. Symba the young lion cub whos job it is to defeat his evil uncle too has a mentor. Rafeeke the baboon takes Symba on a wild journey to find himself and gives him direction however being a mentor and following the pattern he disapears and them Symba has only himself and his small everyday friends to defeat the bad guys. doing so the community of animals comes together and makes the turn around for their society. The message of both movies is that there is hope and to acheive it is not impossible. luke and Symba are 2 totally different life forms but they each have that same desire to defeat the bad guys for their communities.

Symba was lead to sucess by the blue butted baboon "Rafeeke"



Luke was pointed in the directon of acheivement by his mentor "Obi Wan Kanobi"



  

Reality TvvvVVV??? Jersey WhatttT??!!

How does reality television affect our culture's understanding of what behaviors are appropriate in our society? Include some disucssion about how this relates to our understanding of youth. 

    Reality Television......... why exactly are we as Americans so attracted to it???? Do you watch  any reality t.v. shows? Jersey Shore, The real World, Teen Mom, Lost, or even Extreme Home Makeover? People are finding themselves attracted to these shows because they can relate and picture themselves in that life style. Reality shows have a sense of repetition and that is what people also find attractive about these shows they like the fact that it goes on and on and its different every episode but with the consistency of behaviors. For our society it depicts how your everyday people ( Typically  the younger generations) are acting in public. For instance in Jersey shore and The Real World the cast are constantly acting inappropriate and just plain out of line! A group of young people living together, engaging in several sexual activities, fighting, emotions flaring, getting shitty wasted time and time again night after night falling all over the streets its all to real and when people watch this sadly they can relate to the lives of these characters and they seem to forget that its truly not appropriate and they fall into the thought of "oh its normal no big deal". However in reality its not ok. Children find these people to be cultural role models merely because of their status as famous. When young children see this behavior on t.v they don't see the repercussions and they don't know how it is actually not ok for society to act this way. When we look at these people we see a distraught group of youth and its not sending a good message about the young people of our culture they are the building blocks for the young culture and its not appropriate for society!

Country Music vs. Hip Hop........Authenticity????

Compare and contrast Country music and Hip-Hop.  Look at the musical styles, subject matter, selling points, and issues of authenticity.

    When you think of country music what is the typical thought that comes to your mind?? When I think of country music I think of a love story with strong people who have a story to tell and people who are tough and living life to the fullest. Country music styles vary from bluegrass, traditional,cowboy western, honky tonk, rockabilly, country rock, outlaw, alternative country, and many more. The subject matter of most country music is of the every day working class americans. Country music is the facts of life music! Many people have realations to these songs from real life experiences. Selling points of country music are very clean cut country western men and women who seem to be relatable to your every day middle class down to earth Americans. When seeing album covers they usually consist of very soft and reserved people with purpose to life. However when it comes to issues of authenticity in country music one may argue that its a concern. Songs are often rerecorded by many other artist such as "Life is a Highway", "Dirt Road Anthem", and "I told you so."

    However when I think of hip hop music vs. country music I see more of a carless and rude behavior. The different styles of hip hop are that of alternative hip hop, battle rap, conseious rap, crunk, gangster rap, and many others. the subject matter of most hip hop recordings are that of a competition sort of deal. They are oftern sporting the lyrics of how they accomplished something and did better than someonelse. The selling points of todays hip hop records are to those of youth and the everday teenager promoting the "badass" attitude and the sense of carlessness. Authenticity is always as issue to all areas of music when hip hop is concerned it is the dance area of music. The authenticity not only resides in just the music but in  the coreography that is involved as well. 

Country is very diferent from hip hop in the sense that country has a more reserved outlook and hip hop is not reserved its attitude.



How does creativity empower consumers?

How does creativity empower consumers???............................

Creativity empowers consumers because they are able to make popular culture artifacts that somehow symbolize who they are, how they may want to be, or even how they see life in perspective. For instance when online games are created some games such as the game called "A world without Oil" have a purpose on how that creator wants the consumer to view the world. When the consumer plays the game they will view a world with out oil and come up with ways to encounter those daily problems in life.  The creativity of the game empowers the consumer to want to do better for the world because they will see the potential problems that no oil will have on a persons day to day living. By knowing this the consumer is again empowered to be more resourceful.

Many other games have the same empowering effect on people weather its to be greener for the world or do something else like defeat evil villains or rescue a beautiful princess.

Why is masculinity so often linked to violence? How have changes in media over time changed out perceptions of masculinity?

Why is masculinity so often linked to violence?  How have changes in media over time changed out perceptions of masculinity?

Masculinity In my opinion is so highly linked to violence because its in relation to the food chain. When you think of a food chain you think of the weakest link being on the lower of the todem pole and the toughest or "masculine" of them all being at the top. To defeat the weaker you must be stronger. Over time this thought of being strong and most powerful became related to masculinity. So the food chain can be of violence. A tiger will maul a zebra because they are faster stronger and essentially more masculine than a zebra. So the buffer and more athletic human would be considered more masculine than the smaller scrawny human becasue he/ she would be able to dominate violently ( as in a food chain) over them.

Changes in media over time have changed drastically! The perceptions of masculinity have grown and litterally "grown". In the vidoe "Tough Guise" they had photo examples of the james bond characters and the gun sizeds. As they years went on and on the size of the gun that the spy has in his hand gets larger and larger seemining more tough or masculine like. Another example is the super heros. Batman was once a slender fit man who faught crime successfully, but as the newer Batman came out his character became buffer and more idealized as a masculine figure. Again masculinity over time became bigger and bigger.